Connector orienting device



June 1961 M. M. MINOBE- 2,989,164

CONNECTOR ORIENTING DEVICE Original Filed March 9, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 20, 1961 M. M. MINOBE CONNECTOR ORIENTING DEVICE Original Filed March 9, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

United-S at s P en 2,989,164 CONNECTOR ORIENTING DEVICE Mickey M. Minobe, Sycamore, Ill., assignor to Ideal Industries, Inc., Sycamore, 111., a corporation of Delaware Original application Mar. 9, 1959, Ser. No. 798,286. Di-

-vided and. this application Nov. 25, 1959, Ser. No.

3 5,3 '3Clalms. (Cl. 193-43) This is a division of Serial No. 798,286, filed March 9, 1959.

This invention is in the field of devices or machines for automatically or semi-automatically screwing or turning connectors of the pig-tail or screw-on type on the stripped ends of electric wires and the like. Connectors of this general type are shown in U.S. Patent No. 2,749,- 384, for example.

A primary object of my'invention is a new and improved automatic assembling device for pig-tail connectors.

- Another object is an assembling device for connectors which automatically feeds connectors from a hopper through a tube to a power wrench.

Another object is an orienting device for automatically turning all connectors in the same direction before they arezfed through a tube to a driver or wrench.

Another object is an orienter of the above type which returns or recycles the connectors if the tube leading to the driver'is full.

{Other objects will appear from time to time in the ensuing specification and drawings in which;

FIGURE 1 is a perspective of the over-all assembly;

FIGURE 2 is a side view, partly in section, of the cabinet shown, in FIGURE 1;

I FIGURE, 3 is a section along line 3-6 of FIGURE 2, showing the orienter;

FIGURE 4 is a side view of the FIGURE 3 orienter showing its operation;

FIGURE 5 is like FIGURE 4 but showing a difierent operation;

FIGURE 6 is an end view of FIGURES 4 and 5; and

FIGURE 7 is a top view of the orienter in FIGURES 4 and 5.

I provide an upright unit which has an upper cabinet to receive connectors, line them up and feed them, open end first, through a flexible tube to an automatic driver assembly. The driver assembly itself is at the lower end of the tube and is constructed to be power operated to automatically turn the connectors down on the stripped ends of two or more wires. The tube for feeding the connectors may be a plastic tube or it might be a coil spring. The upper housing or cabinet holds the various power elements and I prefer that the motor that drives the assembly be located in the cabinet, but it might be otherwise. The driver assembly is constructed to positively grip and rotate connectors at the lower end of the tube or channel.

In FIGURE 1 the device has been shown as including a generally upright frame 10 with an assembly or working platform 12 part way up and a cabinet 14 on top mounted on a suitable upper platform 16 or the like. A connector wrench 18 may be suspended from the cabinet by a flexible tube 56 and from the frame by a reel 20. As shown in FIGURE 2, the top of the cabinet 14 may have a suitable door or hatch 22 which may be opened to provide access to a hopper or container 24. The cabinet may have a side access 25, if desired. The hopper may be constructed to hold any given number of connectors and may be funnel shaped to feed the connectors to a bowl, indicated generally at '26. The connectors may be of the so-called pigtail or screw-on type, such as shown in U.S. Patent No. 2,749,384, and obtainable at the present time, for example, from Ideal Industries, Inc., of Sycamore, Illinois, sold under the trademark Wire-Nut. The bowl has a vibrator, indicated generally at 28, which is constructed to provide suitable oscillations or vibrations to the bowl for feeding the connectors from the center of the bowl along ahelical path around the inside of the bowl upwardly to a discharge point. The bowl and vibrator, as such are known in the art and not important to the present invention. The function and operation of the bowl and vibrator is to feed the connectors to an orienter, designated generally 30 in FIGURE 2. The connectors come off of a ledge or plate on the bowl, designated generally 32 in FIGURE 4, single file, and are received by the orienter 30.

As shown in detail in FIGURES 3 through 7, the orienter may have a body or elongated base 34 which may be" generally square in cross section and provided with an elongated channel or passage 36. The passage may have an inlet 38 at one end and a discharge or outlet 40 at the other. The base or housing may be tapered down or reduced or otherwise made into a nozzle or spigot 42 for connection to a suitable flexible tube 44 in FIGURE 2, which leads the connectors away from the orienter to the point of use.

It will be noted in FIGURES 3- arrd 6 that the channel 36 is circular in cross section and has a diameter that will accept the connectors. A slot 45 or the like opens through of the channel;

large end will be above the upper surface 46.

At a point down the channel, the slot 45 is enlarged, as at 48 in FIGURE 7, to a dimension larger than the dimension of the large end of the connector. At or adjacent this point a trip device 50, shown in this case as a screw threaded into the channel coming up from below, sticks into the channel a distance such that the bottom or small end of the connectors will hit it. Thus, at the same time that the top end is free due to the enlargement 48, the bottom end will trip over the screw 50, and the connector will fall forward into the channel 36. Thus, the open large end of each connector will always come to the outlet opening 40 first and the small end will follow. So the connectors will pass down tube 44, single file, large end first. Additionally, the trip screw 50 will function as a means for mounting the orienter.

In the event that connectors are not being used by the wrench described hereinafter at a sufficiently rapid rate, the connectors may stack up in the tube 44 and back up into the orienting device. For this I provide a lateral opening or discharge or spill 52 which is in the form of a side opening or the like communicating with the channel 36. If the connectors are stacked up in the channel and a connector is already lying in the channel by the enlargement 48, the next connector coming along and tripping over the screw 50 will merely fall out the side through the opening 52 and back down in the bowl. Thus, the connectors will not jam but will merely recycle in the bowl until the connectors begin to move again.

The use, operation and function of my invention are as follows:

The connectors must be presented large end first to the drive assembly. In the arrangement shown, the connectors will automatically be oriented. In the event that connectors are not being used, the unit will automatically recycle and connectors will be dumped back into the bowl.

Pat nte J n 19 .11"

The trip mechanism 50, in addition to tripping these connectors, may also be used as a mounting means. The side plate 154 connected to the orienting device prevents connectors from spilling over the edge and insures that they always goout through the side' opening 52 for recycling.

The details of the particular vibrating mechanism and helical chute leading up to the orienter are not important. The orienter has the advantage that the trip 50 may be adjusted so that the connector will trip or fall when it gets to the opening 52. The trip, since it is in the form of a screw, can be walked up or down and adjusted relative to the length or height of the connector so that the device will operate regardless of the connector size. This is to say that different size connectors may be used or the machine may be changed from one size to another, and U the trip mechanism can be simply and quickly adjusted to make the orienter accept a number of sizes.

While I have shown and described the preferred form and suggested and shown several variations of my invention, it should be understood that suitable additional modifications, changes, substitutions and alterations may be made without departing from the inventions fundamental theme. unrestricted, except as by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In an orienting and ejecting mechanism for receiving a line of connectors of the pig-tail type and for turning such connectors all in the same direction to be fed to an assembling device, an elongated base, a channel in the base with an inlet at one end and an outlet at the other adapted to pass such connectors, a slot from the channel through the upper surface of the base extending longitudinally with a width less than the large end of such connectors but greater than the small end so that connectors placed in the slot on the upper surface will be disposed by gravity in a generally upright position, large end up, an enlargement in the slot toward the outlet of a width greater than the large end of the connectors, an overflow opening in the side of the base opening into the channel at the enlargement and constructed to discharge It is, therefore, wished that the invention be connectors out the side of the base when the channel leading to the outlet is full, and a trip in the channel adjacent the enlargement disposed to engage the small end of upright connectors moving down the slot from the inlet toward the outlet to turn them, open end forward, at the same time that the large end is released from the slot.

2. The structure of claim 1 further characterized in that the trip is constituted by an adjustable screw extending into the channel.

3. In an orienting and ejectng mechanism for receiving a line of connectors of the pig-tail type and for turning such connectors all in the same direction to be fed to an assembling device, an elongated base, a cylindrical channel mounted within the base and having a diameter greater than the largest diameter of the connectors, an inlet at one end of said channel, said channel extending outwardly beyond the opposite end of said base to form an outlet, a a longitudinal slot in the top of said channel and a longitudinal slot in the upper surface of said base in alignment therewith, said slots having a width less than the large end of the connectors but greater than the small end so that the connectors placed in the slots will be disposed by gravity in a generally upright position, large end up, with the smaller end within the channel, a lateral enlargement of the slots in both the channel and base adjacent the outlet end and having a width greater than the large end of the connectors, and adjustable trip in the channel in general alignment with the start of said enlargement and positioned to contact the small end of the upright connectors moving down the slot from the inlet to the outlet to turn them, large end forward, at the same time that the large end is released from the small portion of the slots, the portions of said channel and base between the outlet and the slot enlargement being closed to hold said connectors in alignment in the channel, large end forward.

Alderman Oct, 6, 1925 Spill Jan. 13, 1931 

